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s of hospitality professionals, identified any gaps between the perceptions and the current curriculum and suggested a model of curriculum for hospitality programs in accredited colleges of Business. However, hospitality curriculum needs to be updated on an ongoing basis in order to stay current and relevant to the prevailing needs and expectations of the industry. Also, the changing nature of the industry calls for recent graduates to reflect the changes and challenges of the industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to replicate Gursoy and Swanger’s (2004) study, and provide an updated ranking of the hospitality subject areas. In addition, the changing needs of the hospitality industry is highlighted through a comparison of their 2004 ranking with the current ranking of hospitality subject areas according to hospitality professionals’ perceptions. As such, likely changes to the 2004 curriculum model are suggested based on the findings of this study. The specific research questions that will be answered through this study are:

What are the current perceptions of industry professionals regarding the importance of hospitality and tourism management course subject areas?

Are there any significant changes in the perceptions of industry professionals in the last five years?

Are there any gaps between the industry needs within the changing operational environment and the current hospitality curriculum?

Literature Review

Hospitality students have often been criticized for having unrealistic expectations of the types of responsibilities they may be given and consequently the types of skills they are expected to have in order to jump start their hospitality career (Purcell and Quinn, 1996). At the same time, the industry often discounted a student’s formal qualifications on the grounds of lack of experience and frequently we complained that students are “overqualified but under experienced” for even entry level management positions (Raybould & Wilkins, 2005). In order to bridge this gap, the hospitality programs underwent several changes in its content, focus, and structure.

In 1996, Formica published a study of tourism and hospitality education in Europe and America that examined programs and future trends. In his study, he argued that there was an international movement that supported the emancipation of hospitality education from its vocational base to an academic field of inquiry. Formica’s claim was later supported by Morrison and O'Mahony (2003) in their case study regarding the liberation of hospitality management education. Rappole (2000) stated that programs have shifted from a home-Economics focus towards a business-related one and Chathoth and Sharma (2007) noted this as the likely reason behind the change in curricular structure of hospitality programs in the United States. Most programs in the 1980s and early 1990s were geared towards developing the operational skills of students, but during the past decade, universities were focusing on both operational and management-related courses as part of the curriculum (Chathoth & Sharma 2007; Rappole, 2000).

Studies suggest that developing a hospitality curriculum broadly involves three major components: substantive knowledge, skills, and values (Dopson and Tas, 2004). While operational issues such as working knowledge of hospitality services are impo